Heated hand grips for cold weather hand-held objects, such as ski poles, archery bows, fishing poles and trolling motors are well known. Examples of such heated hand grips are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,421 issued to Adamson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,192 issued to Garrett, U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,026 issued to Smith, Jr. et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,267 issued to Briner, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The disclosures of Briner and Smith, Jr. et al. both relate to heated hand grips for archery bows. Smith, Jr. et al. discloses a heated hand grip that is form-fitted to the outer surface of the bow. The heating element of Smith, Jr. et al. is flexible planar heat tape that is attached to the surface of the bow by a hook and pile connection and connected to a battery located apart from the hand grip. Briner discloses a heated hand grip that is molded in, or otherwise form-fitted (such as a flexible heat tape or custom molded piece) around or into the bow and also connected to a battery located apart from the hand grip. The molded in hand grip of Briner must be appropriately sized and shaped during construction to fit the particular bow on which the hand grip is to be used. A form-fitted embodiment of the hand grip of Briner can be attached to a bow by an adhesive. Neither Smith, Jr. et al. or Briner disclose a hand grip that includes the power source within the grip, or which is suitable for attaching to a ski pole, shovel or similar tubular object.
Garrett discloses a heated hand grip for a fishing rod and/or trolling motor that is connected to an external power source such as a boat battery. The fishing rod of Garret is frictionally engaged with the inner surface of a cylindrical ferrule. The cylindrical ferrule is frictionally engaged with the inner surface of a bushing which is held within a cavity in the hand grip of Garrett by a set screw. The ease of assembly and disassembly (either intentional or inadvertent) of the rod from the ferrule and the ferrule from the bushing is dependant upon the coefficient of friction of the materials used for the ferrule and the bushing, as well as on the tolerances between the outer surfaces of the rod and ferrule to the inner surfaces of the ferrule and bushing, respectively. If the coefficient of friction is too low, or the tolerance between outer and inner surfaces is too high, the rod may inadvertently come apart during use. If the coefficient of friction is too high, or the tolerance between outer and inner surfaces is too low, assembly or disassembly will be more difficult.
Adamson discloses a heated hand grip for attaching to a ski pole that includes the power source within the hand grip. Although Adamson states that the hand grip can be held in place on the ski pole by a variety of methods, such as an interference fit, a mechanical locking arrangement or an adhesive, Adamson does not disclose a method for easily attaching a single hand grip to ski poles of varying sizes. Furthermore, the heating element of Adamson is either affixed to the surface of hand grip or formed integrally with the surface of the hand grip. While such an arrangement is acceptable for the hand grip of Adamson, in which the heating element is located on the interior surface of a protective shield than surrounds the portion of the hand grip that is held within the skier's hand, it is less desirable for hand grips in which the source of heat is intended to emanate from the portion of the grip being held with the skier's hand. In such instances, the location of a heating element on the surface of the grip or formed integrally with the surface of the grip will greatly limit the materials that may be utilized to provide a comfortable, cushioned grip. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a heated hand grip that can be easily installed onto a ski pole or other similar object that provides a comfortable, cushioned grip.